Currently in Curricula

Christian Education Curricula
Hilda Dueck

Four lessons to guide the young

Lorraine M. Dick. Winnipeg/Hillsboro, Kan.: Kindred Productions, 1995.

Teacher's guide 48 pp., $7.95; Student's book 36 pp., $3.95. softcover.

First Steps for Kids is a set of four 55-minute lessons "to help children grow more as Christians". It is designed as a follow-up program for children ages 7-11, who want to know more about the church or about being a Christian. Having been involved in Christian Education ministries for many years, Dick developed these lessons in response to a need for follow-up materials in the CE ministry at Waterloo (Ont.) MB Church.

The four lessons guide children through sharing their own stories about "joining God's family"; beginning to understand who God is; learning how reading the Bible and prayer help faith grow; and developing a love for their church community.

The lessons are well-crafted for a variety of learning styles, with interesting openers, pertinent discussion questions, an interactive lesson that has students participating in a variety of ways through the workbook, and an at-home activity to keep them thinking about the lesson during the week.

A variety of CE workers will find this an excellent resource, but may find its 55-minute, 4-lesson format limiting. I would like to have seen material this well done expanded to at least 12 lessons so that a more in-depth study could be done in each subject. Questions about how God speaks to us, and what we can expect from Him need to be explored beyond the "safe" answers that adults frequently give children.

Derrick Mueller. Hepburn, Sask.: Bethany Bible Institute Publishers, 1996.

48 pp. $5.00.

Knowing the Shepherd is one of three complementary components in a curriculum designed for the study of Psalm 23. A 180-page Leader's Resource Binder ($25.00) and Phillip Keller's A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23 ($4.20) round out this study package.

Knowing the Shepherd is a booklet consisting of six lessons designed to help elementary and junior high youth come to know the Good Shepherd. Each lesson comes with a memory verse and brief insight, opportunities to look up Bible verses, a word search, a crossword puzzle, a prayer, whimsical artwork and colouring page. Although the booklet is advertised as suitable for elementary to junior high, its reading and comprehension level is more appropriate for grades 3-6.

Because the material is treated in a very abbreviated and sometimes simplistic way, this booklet would be most useful in conjunction with the other two components in a more in-depth study of Psalm 23.

The book includes a "Prayer for Eternal Security", which will raise some theological eyebrows, given that this material comes out of a Bible school that supposedly adheres to an MB understanding of biblical doctrine.

GENERATION WHY: FINDING ANSWERS TO THE WORLD'S TOUGH QUESTIONS.

Various writers. Bible studies published as undated units, released two per quarter by Faith & Life Press, Newton, Kan. Elgin, Ill.: Brethren Press, 1996.

40 pp.

Don't let the no-frills format of the study guide fool you. The Generation Why Bible studies deliver easy-to-use teaching materials, creative activities, hard-hitting discussion questions and reproducible sheets. They promise "no-sugar-coating" and "no simplistic answers", just "youth and their leaders finding God in the midst of the world's tough questions." Each of the six lessons is crammed into 45-50 minutes. There is an additional "Extender Session" included in each unit.

Units on "How to Read the Bible: Building Skills for Bible Study", and "Keeping the Garden: a Faith Response to God's Creation" are just two examples of the topics tackled. A clearly laid out lesson plan, includes a key verse, a faith story, a faith focus and a session goal. A quick reference to the jagged boxes in the columns provides handy information about materials needed and advance preparation for the lesson, a reminder of the questions youth aren't afraid to ask, and insightful quotations relating to those questions.

Also available to augment this teaching tool is WITH, "the magazine for radical youth", and YouthGuide, a newsletter for youth workers.

The five lessons in the "How to Read the Bible" unit discuss how people got to know God before there was a Bible, what makes this historic book holy, how understanding the various genre and forms used in the Bible can help us in our reading of it, how the Bible is our guide to faith and practice, and how the way we translate and interpret the Bible will shape how we live as God's people.

"Keeping the Garden: a faith response to God's Creation" connects faith with environmental ethics. Caring for God's Creation; Appreciating diversity in creation; Recognizing the shared relationship God intends for humanity and the rest of creation; The sin of degrading the environment; Being aware that our greed may impoverish others; and Recognizing how God uses small acts of faith to accomplish great healing in humanity's relationship with creation round out the six lessons in this unit.

This is not a visually appealing resource, but for the youth worker who is willing to go beyond spoon-feeding and easy answers, it will have a great deal of appeal.

Eleanor Snyder and Susan Pries. General Conference Mennonite Church, Commission on Education. Newton, Kan./Winnipeg: Faith & Life Press, 1996. 206 pp.

Eleanor Snyder, director of children's education for the General Conference Mennonite Church in Newton, Kan., and Susan Pries of First Mennonite Church in Kitchener, Ont. have both served for many years in a variety of capacities in Christian education. It is their intention that this curriculum will help children and adults learn to know and love God as a personal friend and guide.

Loving God is the fifth piece in the complete, free-standing curricula of the Living Stones Collection. Two other books in this series are I am Somebody God Loves and Simon Peter. This curriculum is designed for use in a standard vacation Bible school, midweek programs, summer Sunday school, all-church events, weekend retreats, camping experiences, church child care programs and even family vacation times.

This one volume curriculum is written with clear instructions for use with either age/grade groupings or in broadly graded groupings for children ages 3 through grade 8. Included are separate teaching tracks for early childhood and junior youth. The program is designed for five sessions, each lasting two and three-quarter hours. Suggestions for adapting the format to fit other time frames is included, complete with a master schedule.

Each session includes appropriate biblical texts, background reading for leaders, a specific theme, a story and faith focus, songs, Bible story dramas and instructions for three rotating activity sessions: Talk and Move, Pray and Learn, and Make and Take.

Seldom does one find a Christian education resource that is so complete, compact, detailed and flexible at the same time. The innovative resources provided are sure to capture the interest and enthusiasm of students. This is the kind of hands-on learning that empowers children to make life-changing choices.

HILDA DUECK IS A TEACHER AND WRITER LIVING IN TOFIELD, ALTA. SHE RECENTLY COMPLETED FOUR YEARS ON THE ALBERTA CHRISTIAN EDUCATION

Return to the M.B.Herald Vol. 38, No. 13 Home Page